Ramseyer-Northern Bible Society Collection

THE
DREIDL

----Click
image above to zoom in----
Dreidl loaned by Susan and David Vileta

The four letters on the four sides of the dreidl are
the initial letters of the Hebrew phrase:

...meaning, "A great miracle happened there", referring to the miracle
of the temple light burning for eight days with only one day's supply of
oil.

The same initial letters also stand, in Yiddish, for the four actions
to be taken depending on the spin of the dreidl. The players each start
with an equal number of coins, matches, tokens, or whatever they agree to
play with, and each puts the same number in the pot.

The players spin in turn, and do what is indicated by the letter which
is uppermost when the dreidl stops.

=
N = Nichts - the player does nothing

=
G = Ganz - take everything from the pot

=
H = Halb - take half from the pot

=
Sh = Shtel - put one in the pot

There is no standard way of Romanizing Yiddish, which is normally written
with Hebrew characters, so the spelling may vary in usage.